DRIVING THE DAY: DIMON ON THE HILL – JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon testifies before the Senate Banking Committee today in the first of two highly-anticipated appearances on Capitol Hill this month. He’s expected to tell senators that he’s sorry for the company’s billions in trading losses, but they were an isolated circumstance that didn’t affect clients or taxpayers. A preview, from the AP: http://bit.ly/M1Rndw

-- TIME’s Christopher Matthews hopes Congress does more than scoldDimon: “It’s one of the few things Congress is demonstrably good at these days: the open flagellation of American businessmen. The unprecedented sums of money doled out by Congress to private industry since 2008 has given Congress the pretext to drag the executives of bailed-out industries down to Washington for sessions of high-profile finger-wagging. … [I]t offers a much more important opportunity to answer fundamental questions about our financial regulatory structure. Namely, what kind of structure will prevent this sort of thing from happening again? … [T]his incident shows both Wall Street’s inability to manage risk, and Washington’s inability to spot that incompetence before it’s too late. But there is a growing consensus on the political right as well as the left that the only solution is to forcibly break up the banks. … [I]nstead of nitpicking Jamie Dimon on the minutia of his firm’s reckless trading this year, Congress should simply ask him to explain why we shouldn’t simply downsize his bank, big time.” http://ti.me/LhU9Oz

-- Reuters’ Rob Cox hopes Dimon shows up ready to fight: “[A] mealy submission from Dimon may help effectively nationalize the American banking industry for good. Consider the implicit message the senators who called Dimon before them are sending: that banks must answer to the nation for any losses they incur – and that watchdogs and regulations should somehow be able to prevent them. It’s that kind of thinking that codifies large banks like JPMorgan as public utilities, fostering the false sense of security that they are too big to fail. … He should remind senators that banking involves taking risks, which means some losses are inevitable. But as long as a firm has the wherewithal to mop up the red ink – and has written a credible will in the event of its demise – such losses should primarily be an issue for the bank’s shareholders and creditors, not politicians or the general public.” http://reut.rs/OtDsku

-- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released a GAO report Tuesday showing Dimon isn’t the only member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve whose bank took emergency funds from the Fed. Reuters: “Sanders released information … showing representatives of 18 banks that got emergency Fed funds during the 2007-2009 financial crisis while their top executives served on the boards of regional Fed banks. … Sanders has proposed legislation barring bankers from having a role on the board of the 12 regional Fed banks, saying it is wrong for executives to govern an institution that regulates their firms.” http://reut.rs/KrlGkg

ERIC HOLDER VS. THE WORLD -- If you saw a Republican senator Tuesday, there’s a strong chance he was criticizing Attorney General Eric Holder. POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein: “There was the old standby — Holder’s response to the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal — and a new flurry of criticism over his refusal to appoint an independent counsel to investigate leaks of national security secrets. Republicans unleashed a two-front attack on the attorney general. They assailed him during a regularly scheduled oversight hearing, where he faced new calls for his resignation, and on the Senate floor, where Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced a resolution, urging a special counsel for the leak probe.”

-- Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the head of the NRSC, joined the calls for Holder to resign: “There has been zero accountability at the Department of Justice. … The leaking of classified information represents a major threat to national security, and your office faces a clear conflict of interest, yet you will not appoint a special counsel,” Cornyn said to Holder’s face during the hearing. “It is more with sorrow than regret and anger that I would say that you leave me no alternative than to join those who call upon you to resign your office.” Holder had none of it, and said he had no intention to quit: “With all due respect, there is so much factually wrong with the premises you started your statement with,” Holder said. “It’s almost breathtaking in its inaccuracy.”

-- Twenty additional Republicans are backing McCain’s call for a special prosecutor, arguing Holder’s appointment of two U.S. attorneys is insufficient. But Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein “suggested that her GOP colleagues are muddling Congress’ clear message on the issue by starting a battle over the question of a special counsel.” http://bit.ly/Nxz0mL

-- Also in the hearing, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) seemed to suggest the two prosecutors Holder picked weren’t well-known enough. “I think you are missing something here,” Graham “said in a stern tone,” according to the New York Times. “I think you are missing the fact that this is a very big deal, and you are handling it in a way that creates suspicion where there should not be. And all I’m asking for is for you to find a lawyer in this country that we all of could say — virtually all of us — could say that is the right person to do this job, rather than you picking two people and telling us how great they are. I don’t know these people from Adam’s house cat.” http://nyti.ms/KmkPjv

HUDDLE NOTE – It doesn’t seem like Graham watches the local news when he’s in D.C., since both prosecutors have made major local headlines in the past year. Ron Machen, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, just got a guilty plea out of D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown and is continuing a high-profile probe into corruption in the campaign of D.C. Mayor Vince Gray. Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, is a Republican holdover who convicted Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson on extortion charges. Brown, Gray and Johnson are all Democrats.

BARBER WINS ARIZ. SPECIAL -- “Democrat Ron Barber will finish the congressional term of his former boss, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords,” Brady McCombs writes for the Arizona Daily Star. “Barber soundly defeated Republican Jesse Kelly by about 7 percentage points in Tuesday's Congressional District 8 special election. Green Party candidate Charlie Manolakis received 2 percent of the vote. Barber rode a 9-point lead in the 147,000 early votes cast - which accounted for 75 percent of the votes counted as of Tuesday night - to victory in this nationally watched race in which more than $2.2 million was spent by outside political groups on TV ads and mailers.” Barber drew 52 percent of the vote to Kelly’s 45.5 percent.

--Kelly is now facing a rocky political future, McCombs reports: “Although the vote tabulation is incomplete, Kelly actually appears to have won among voters who went to the polls on election day by a few hundred votes - but not nearly enough to overcome Barber's early-voter advantage. … Kelly's loss - his second in two consecutive attempts to win the CD8 seat - puts his political future in question. He'll face a primary challenge now in CD2 from Republican Martha McSally, who would have withdrawn had he won this election. And fundraising could now be difficult because of the stigma of being a two-time general-election loser.” http://bit.ly/L4qQRe

LESSONS FROM AZ-8: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a memo shortly after Barber’s win outlining several takeaways from the special election race. The first: “This election was a referendum on Republicans’ policy of cutting Medicare and privatizing Social Security to give tax breaks millionaires, Big Oil, and corporations that ship jobs overseas – and they lost.” Read more: http://bit.ly/M1Agsl

THE ROGERS REPORT – The farm bill – which cleared a procedural vote 90-8 last week – is already facing some stumbles, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) caused a stir late Tuesday when he objected to proceeding to votes on the farm bill if it didn’t include his amendment to cut off aid to Pakistan. David Rogers writes for the hometown paper: “Paul — and a good many other senators — are up in arms over the imprisonment of a Pakistani physician, Dr. Shakil Afridi, for helping the CIA locate Osama bin Laden last year … ‘It’s not germane, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important,’ Paul said of his amendment. ‘It’s very important that we send Pakistan a signal that we will not continue to send them a welfare check when they’re holding in prison a political prisoner who helped us get bin Laden.’ http://politi.co/M1zqMc

**A message from the Communications Workers of America: Why won’t American Airlines follow the law? American Airlines is trying to prevent 10,000 passenger service agents from voting on union representation even though the National Mediation Board has ordered American to let the election move forward and Congressional leaders have weighed in. Hear the story from the agents themselves: http://bit.ly/LDBDCY

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, JUNE 13, 2012, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news. Please be kind and send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections to skim@politico.com. If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @seungminkim. Scott is @scottwongDC, Jake is @jakesherman, Jon is @jonallendc and Robillard is @PoliticoKevin.

My new followers include, but are not limited to @WhipHoyer and @DBrandewie.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The House is out. The Senate is in at 9:30 a.m. and will resume consideration of the farm bill. At some point Wednesday, senators will vote to table two pending amendments to the farm bill, but the votes have not yet been scheduled.

AROUND THE HILL – Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) will give the keynote address at the Frontiers in Development forum hosted by the United States Agency for International Development. The speech will be held at Georgetown University at 1 p.m.

REID: PACQUIAO WAS ROBBED! He didn’t get to watch the fight in person, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sure thinks Manny Pacquiao – who campaigned for the senator in 2010 – should’ve won the match against Timothy Bradley. Reid told reporters Tuesday: “From all the reports that I’ve seen by people on the outside, who saw the fight, who attempted to be fair and judged the fight, Pacquiao won the fight.” http://politi.co/LtYO1B

GRASSLEY FURIOUS OVER HURWITZ CONFIRMATION -- In a voice vote Tuesday, the Senate confirmed Andrew David Hurwitz to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had no clue. An angry Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee who had opposed Hurwitz’s nomination, took to the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon to rail against a “breach of comity” that occurred when he wasn’t informed that a swift voice vote on Hurwitz would be taking place. “It seems to me that all the business of the Senate is based upon trust between one senator and another,” Grassley said. When the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee isn’t notified of this action or any other senator [is] notified of this action, it seems to me that that trust has been violated.”

-- A Senate Democratic aide told Huddle that Republican leadership signed off on the unanimous consent agreement to voice-vote Hurwitz, so “any complaints Senator Grassley might have should be directed to them.” A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had no response, but Republican sources told Roll Call’s John Stanton that Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl had cut the deal with Reid to confirm Hurwitz – who lives in Kyl’s home state of Arizona – to confirm Hurwitz via voice vote. http://bit.ly/M1HTiw

HOUSE GOP TWEAKING HEALTH CARE STRATEGY: POLITICO’S Jake Sherman and Jonathan Allen with the details: “GOP leaders plan to bookend July with a weeklong debate on health care after the court releases its ruling in late June and a tax-cut fight at the end of the month … The message: This is the Republican position on taxes and health care. We’ve got a plan, and we can execute it.” http://politi.co/M1Oj16

LEVIN: DOD CAN AVOID SEQUESTER -- Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin said the Pentagon can avoid the painful cuts coming its way in the sequester by agreeing to cut $10 billion each year for the next ten years, Walter Pincus reports for the Washington Post: “Levin suggested that some cuts could come from the costs of maintaining and modernizing the nuclear stockpile and funding for family housing for troops stationed in South Korea. Levin, participating in a National Press Club session, said a signal should be sent on a compromise before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, because major defense contractors have already sent ‘warning notices’ to employees of possible cuts.” http://wapo.st/LRHNvJ

CROSSROADS LAUNCHES ATTACK ON SIX DEMS -- POLITICO’s Alexander Burns has the exclusive: “The GOP independent spending goliath American Crossroads and its affiliate group Crossroads GPS are launching a new barrage of attack ads in six competitive Senate races, assailing a range of Democratic candidates as big-spending, liberal, ethically challenged and overly close to President Barack Obama. The ad campaign will total $4.6 million across a half-dozen states, a Crossroads strategist told POLITICO. American Crossroads is targeting the Nebraska, Nevada and Virginia Senate contests, while 501(c)4 group Crossroads GPS is funding the ads in North Dakota, Missouri and Ohio. … Over and over, the Crossroads groups attempt to take Democrats with fairly strong state-level political profiles and tar them by association with the national party – and the president.” http://politi.co/KAZ8ZJ

MAINE PARTIES CHOOSE KING OPPONENTS -- The two parties in Maine have selected their candidates to take on former Gov. Angus King, an independent, in the race for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe. “Republican Charlie Summers and Democrat Cynthia Dill took a step toward becoming Maine’s next U.S. senator Tuesday, winning their parties’ nominations to be on the ballot in November,” John Richardson writes for the Portland Press Herald. “... Despite the high stakes nationally, election officials reported an unusually low turnout at the polls statewide Tuesday.” http://bit.ly/LxbLYr

N.D. GOP PRIMARY SEES UPSET -- The Fargo Forum’s Ryan Johnson reports: “Kevin Cramer pulled off a primary election upset Tuesday, beating North Dakota Republican Party-endorsed U.S. House candidate Brian Kalk at the polls to clinch the GOP nomination to run for the U.S. House in November.” Cramer, who received 55 percent of the vote, is a public service commissioner and former chairman of the state GOP. He’ll face former state Rep. Pam Gulleson in November for the seat currently held by Rep. Rick Berg. http://bit.ly/MDfNLD

OBAMA V. RUBIO -- Glenn Thrush reports for the hometown paper: “The Obama administration's months-long chess match with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) over a controversial Puerto Rican-born diplomatic nominee will likely come to end [Wednesday] with a cliffhanger vote on the Senate floor. … Mari Carmen Aponte, Obama's pick to be ambassador to El Salvador, has languished in limbo since December after Rubio's promise to deliver four Republicans to block cloture on her candidacy fell short, due to the stroke suffered by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). … Rubio is wedged between the competing demands of his pal Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) -- who opposes Aponte (over a relationship she had with a Cuban spy years back) -- and Florida's huge Puerto Rican Community, clustered in the Orlando area, who views Aponte's nomination with pride. Obama and his aides love it: Will Rubio side with the tea party or Hispanics in his home state? Rubio says it's stupid, ugly wedge politics.” http://politi.co/LRXra8

FRANKS BUCKS FLAKE, BACKS CARDON -- Dan Nowicki reports for the Arizona Republic: “Rep. Trent Franks, who once was close to running for the Senate himself this year, is endorsing Mesa investor Wil Cardon over his House colleague Rep. Jeff Flake in the state's GOP Senate primary. … It's not the first time Franks has snubbed a fellow member of Arizona's Capitol Hill delegation. In 2006, Franks initially endorsed Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., for president over Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.” http://bit.ly/Lwa39y

GOHMERT DOUBTS SEIZURE STORY -- Salon’s Alex Seitz-Wald reports: “While most officials in Washington expressed concern for Commerce Secretary John Bryson after his seizure-induced car accidents this weekend, the inimitable Texas Republican Louie Gohmert used the health lapse to attack the Obama administration figure. ‘That’s who’s in charge of keeping businesses going — a guy who crashes his car from car to car,’ the congressman told American Family Association Radio today. Gohmert also seemed to be skeptical of the news that Bryson had a seizure. ‘It’s really unusual to have a seizure cause you to have one wreck, and then cause you to put your car in gear and keep going until you have another wreck. That kind of seizure is really unusual, you know?’” http://bit.ly/LkIZXI

MUDCAT SIGNS UP TO TAKE ON CANTOR -- Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, famous for leading Jim Webb and Mark Warner to statewide victories in Virginia, then considered a solid red state, is advising a candidate seeking to take down House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, per the Daily Caller’s Alex Pappas: “Saunders … confirmed that he’s working for Democratic congressional candidate Wayne Powell, a retired Army colonel challenging Cantor for his U.S. House seat in Virginia. ‘We’re going national,’ Saunders told TheDC of the Powell campaign. ‘And we’re going to be doing a lot of national shows.’ The campaign’s message against Cantor? ‘He screwed us, and us is pissed.’” Saunders wants to use Cantor’s national notoriety both to raise money and to portray the Richmond congressman as out of touch with his district. Cantor has $5 million in his war chest and easily won r-election in 2010. http://thedc.com/LBtT1Z

THE REVENGE OF ED TOWNS: POLITICO’s Kate Nocera has the story on outgoing Rep. Ed Towns’s controversial endorsement of Charles Barron, his old political foe who has called Muammar Qadhafi a “freedom fighter” and brought Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to City Hall: “Towns has a motive as old as politics: revenge. He’s leaving Congress with a big chip on his shoulder and some scores to settle, both in New York and Washington, said sources close to Towns. In 2010, his fellow Democrats pushed him aside from the top spot on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Getting passed over for ranking member in Washington weakened Towns back home and created an opening for Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries to force Towns to retire or face primary defeat.” http://politi.co/M1MCRf

S.F.-BASHING DUFFY WILL RAISE CASH IN BAY AREA -- The San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci reports: “When it comes to money, the politicians aren’t picky: Wisconsin GOP Rep. Sean Duffy, who has publicly railed against all those ‘San Francisco radicals,’ is coming here to see the scene for himself. At a fundraiser. [He visited] our lovely city [Tuesday] for a big $1,000 per person evening fundraiser…. alongside GOP Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield.” http://bit.ly/LHlAEc

CASE HAS GENERAL ELECTION EDGE IN HAWAII -- While both Democratic former Rep. Ed Case and Rep. Mazie Hirono would win a general election battle with former Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican, Case has a significantly larger edge, according to a new Civil Beat poll. The two candidates are knotted up with 46 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, Case would beat Lingle 52 percent to 36 percent, while Hirono’s edge is only 49 percent to 44 percent. Hirono is the pick of most party leaders and organized labor, while Case has an edge among independents and moderate voters, according to the poll. http://bit.ly/Ljafpr

JOE WALSH (ROCKER) PICKS DUCKWORTH OVER JOE WALSH (CONGRESSMAN) -- Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh is endorsing Democrat Tammy Duckworth over Rep. Joe Walsh in Illinois, the Associated Press reports: “The six-time Grammy-winning rocker said he's ‘the real Joe Walsh’ and that he's proud to back Democrat Tammy Duckworth in her bid for the suburban Chicago congressional seat. The musician, who lived in Evanston for a few years as a child, will hold a fundraising concert for her in July, with tickets priced at $100 to $2,500. The endorsement in one of the most closely-watched U.S. House races nationwide is a first for the Democratic musician.” When Walsh (the congressman) first ran for office two years ago, he used an Eagles song on his campaign site and the rocker sued. The politician took down the song. http://bit.ly/OvniqV

TUESDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER -- Thomas Campos was the first one to correctly list all three post-1930 members of Congress who also served as mayors of New York City: Ed Koch, John Lindsay and Fiorello La Guardia.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Campos offers today’s question: What former senator played his fiddle for the Grand Ole Opry when he was Senate majority leader? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at skim@politico.com.

THE NATS LINE – The Nats kept their win streak going last night in Toronto: The Post: “[Bryce] Harper’s mammoth home run sparked the Washington Nationals’ 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, their fifth straight win and seventh in their past eight games. They moved to 37-23, a 100-win pace, and vaulted into a four-game lead in the National League East after the Atlanta Braves lost to the New York Yankees.” http://wapo.st/LCbulU

WEATHER -- Breezy, with patchy clouds and highs in the low 80s, according to ABC 7’s Brian van de Graaff.

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**A message from the Communications Workers of America: Why won’t American Airlines follow the law? It’s the most fundamental American right there is – the right to vote. But American Airlines is trying to deny that right to employees, against the advice of congressional leaders. It’s doing everything it can – both legal and not – to block 10,000 passenger service agents from voting on union representation. The National Mediation Board has ordered American to let the election move forward, but the airline is flat out refusing. They are defying the NMB by withholding address labels for a lawful representation election and filing a nuisance lawsuit against the agency, while continuing efforts to delay the election, which is now set to begin June 14. American Airlines’ attempts to stop employees from voting are unacceptable, unfair and most of all un-American. Hear the story directly from the agents themselves and learn more at http://bit.ly/LDBDCY